


The Tale of Lewis Despereaux

by radtothemax



Category: Cafe at the End of Time, Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:53:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25994032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radtothemax/pseuds/radtothemax
Summary: Lewis doesn't remember his past. He has exactly two memories from what his life was like before: a woman reading The Tale of Despereaux to him and a letter addressed "To Lewis and his little brother, _____". The name on the envelope was obscured. One day he just woke up in a time and place where no one seemed to know him, completely devoid of any information about himself. Except for those two things. Those he knows for sure.Ever since, he's been trying to learn more about himself. Where he came from, when he came from...who he is. It's easy to convince people to let you travel with them when you're small, don't require payment, and promise not to cause trouble. So that's what he's been doing: traveling. Across time and space, documenting other people's stories in the hopes that he'll either learn his own, or stop what happened to him from happening to others.He's learned how to survive when others don't want him to, to earn his keep when they'd rather he not, and that if he gets left behind...it's up to him to catch up.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a first draft! Any format/content may be subject to change but I'll be sure to update if that is the case. Also, please forgive any misspellings or grammatical errors.

Static.

That’s what Lewis heard as he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, just like he did every morning for the past thousand days. His breathing was steady, an even rhythm of in, out, in, and out that he hardly had to think about. Luckily it was going to be that kind of day.

He hated the other kinds of days.

The kinds where he awoke to his own ragged breath barely getting out of his lungs, much less into them. The kinds where his face was already wet, being from sweat or tears, he didn’t know. Although those days were few and far between, he appreciated every other kind of day a little bit more.

He took a deep breath and felt every second as the chipper air filled his whole body and then was once again let back into the world. It was going to be a good day.

“Lewis! Come get your food before someone else gets hungry for breakfast!”

“I’ll be right down!” he shouted back into the house. Yeah, it was going to be a good day.

The sun was barely up but Lewis could already tell it was going to be a cold day. Through the window of the dining room, he could see the sky. The clouds were big and dark, but not the kind of dark that usually accompanies storms. No, those were thick and so full of rain you could feel it. These weren’t as dense and didn’t have a hint of rain in them. Instead, it was just the wide gray curtain that you just knew meant cold.

“Now, you better hurry up. You’ve got work to do today.”

Lewis wondered how long it was going to be until the first snowfall of the season. He hoped it didn’t come early like the snow two years before. It was such a long winter, that one. Since he wasn’t allowed to go outside much during that year, he was hoping to make up lost time the next, but sadly the snow was late that year instead. Zero consistency, this place.

“Lewis?” two fingers snapped in front of his face and Lewis dropped his spoon in surprise. It was stopped halfway between his bowl and his mouth, despite not having a speck of food on it.

“Lewis, you alright there, honey?” Mrs. Walsh put her hand on her hip and threw a small towel over her shoulder. 

“Oh yes, I’m fine,” he replied. He stood, taking his bowl (empty, though he didn’t remember eating a bite of it) and placing it in the basin near the window.

“You sure there, lad? You look a little...distracted.” She furrowed her brow and tilted her head at him. She seemed more concerned than usual. Why was that?

“He’s thinking about Nila.” A voice sing songed as its small owner ran into the kitchen, around the table, and then back out the way he came. Mrs. Walsh scoffed.

“Don’t listen to Damian, he’s just excited because I’m letting Mason take him along around town today.” Lewis absently nodded his head. Why would Damian think he was thinking about Nila? He hadn’t even seen her the past few days. Every time he went out, she was either busy or he couldn’t find her.

“Listen, sweetheart,” Mrs. Walsh walked over to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. Her hands were cold like they were wet. Had she been washing the dishes? Lewis could help with that if she needed.

“I know I said you got to work today,” she continued. “But you don’t have to if you’re not feeling up to it. I can get Damian to do your chores.”

“Oh, no!” he said, turning to her. “I’m fine. I’ll be able to get them done, don’t you worry about it.”

“Are you sure, Lewis? It’s really no trouble.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Thank you, though, Mrs. Walsh.” She gave him a tight lipped smile and waved him off into the house to start his chores.

The hot air from the fire Mrs. Walsh had set started to spread throughout the house and Lewis had to push up his sleeves in order to stay comfortable. He wound his way to every room in the sprawling home and put things back in their place, swept the floors of any grime that was present, and made sure all the lamps were properly extinguished and wiped clean.

He didn’t necessarily dislike his duties, but this was definitely his least favorite part. From the windows at the back of the house, he could see Mason and Delia out feeding the chickens and letting the sheep into the field to the south. Damian was running around their feet, chasing the animals through the dirt and mud. Lewis could see they were laughing and he smiled long, not knowing what the joke was.

He worked as fast as he could and by the time he had finished his chores inside the house, the sun was fully risen. Mason came bounding up the lane with Damian quick on his heels. As he passed Lewis, he gave a curt nod but continued to the house, poking his head in through the door.

“Ma! Damian and I are headed out to town!” The smaller kid was rocking back and forth on his heels, pulling at his brother’s coat. Lewis had never seen him quite this excited. The only time he thought came close was when one of their ewes gave birth to new, tiny little lamb. Lewis had to admit, it was one of the cutest things he had ever seen.

“We’ll be back before supper!” Mason was still shouting. “Send Delia if you need us!” He didn’t wait for an answer and turned back towards the road. He kept his eyes down and didn’t look up once his gaze had passed over Lewis’s shoes. He wondered if Mason would ever look him in the eye.

Lewis stayed standing on the porch until the small wagon carrying the two brothers faded beyond the horizon.

It still didn’t feel like it was going to rain, but he hoped the weather would stay steady. Mason and Damian would get stuck in town, and then lord knows when they’d be back at the farm. The things they’d buy won’t rightly be of much use if they all got water logged before anyone could actually use them.

“Good morning, Lewis.” 

“Oh, good morning, Delia.” The lone daughter of Mrs. Walsh was sitting on the porch carding some of the wool that Mason must’ve sheared off the sheep not to0 long ago. The two brushes she held in her hands were large and heavy. Lewis always wondered how she was able to do such a task for hours on end. Just pulling the wool apart nearly fiber by fiber, repeating the same motion over and over again.

“You aren’t going into town with your brothers?”

“No, Mason said I should stay here in case Mama thought of another errand she needed doing. That way I can run into town and let them know,” she said matter of factly.

“Right, of course,” muttered Lewis. He didn’t bother arguing that he could’ve been the one to go tell Mason and Damien. It had been such a long time since he’d last been in town and, if he was being honest, he longed to go back. If not to actually help the Walsh family, then to just piss off Mason. He barely felt good about Lewis wandering the grounds around their farm. God forbid he went somewhere with people, you know, where they could see him. He was fairly certain Mason would faint.

He seemed to be the only Walsh who felt that way, but still, Lewis didn’t challenge Mason’s logic. He had already gotten so much from the family and it didn’t feel right to ask for much more.

“Well, I better get going,” he continued. “Stuff to do.” Delia smiled at him and continued her work, gently rocking back and forth in her porch chair. Lewis nodded and followed the path he took nearly every day towards the woods on the far side of the farm. On his way, he grabbed the small wagon near the shed and pulled it along behind him.

Now, this was Lewis’s favorite part of working on the Walsh farm. Well, not his favorite, but pretty damn close. He liked the farm, but he loved the woods. He was generally tasked with collecting firewood for the various stoves and fireplaces around the residence. This meant, almost daily, he was sent into the woods all alone to gather the wood. It wasn’t necessarily the nature that Lewis thoroughly enjoyed, (though that was a plus), it was the solitude. Even when he was at the farm, he was generally alone, but there was something different about his time in the woods.

In that huge house, it was a loneliness defined by distance, the distance between him and everyone else inside. He constantly felt isolated regardless of being surrounded by a number of people at any given moment. Despite living with the same four people for three years, he still felt like an outsider. Like he was a small dog that had wandered into their home and hadn’t bothered to leave just yet. Even though most of them put on an air of respect and dignity, he could still feel the pity leaking through at him. He didn’t blame them of course, he was just a lost dog, after all. A lost dog no one felt the need to claim, it seemed like.

But when he was alone (truly alone, just himself with no one else around), it gave him room. Room to breath, room to think. Instead of being forced to think about what everyone else wanted from him, he was able to think about himself free of any sort of expectation. It gave him room to think about what was next. When he was inside that house, all he could do was think of what had happened and why it had happened. But those thoughts rarely reached him between the trees.

After a few minutes of walking, he finally reached the small clearing and let the handle of the wagon fall to the ground. He took a few steps forward and grabbed the axe that was leaning against a stump. Lewis didn’t have to actually collect firewood all that often, he was mainly occupied with chopping it. Frankly, he was happy for a chore that involved some level of physical labor. It helped him feel like he was actually giving something back to the family that had given him so much.

It also helped him focus on something else besides the thoughts swirling around his own head. In fact, he was so swept up in his task that he didn’t notice when someone walked up behind him.

“Lewis,” she whispered. Her voice was far too low for him to hear over the sound of his own heavy breathing.

“Lewis.” This time she said it a bit louder, but he still didn’t register his new companion.

“Lewis!”

Suddenly hearing his name being shouted in a clearing he previously believed was empty save for himself was not something Lewis had expected to happen. He dropped the axe and tried spinning around all in one action, but this only resulted in him tripping on the pile of wood that was slowly growing beside him. He fell to the ground with a hearty thump and a string of curses that Mrs. Walsh would be severely disappointed if she heard him using them.

“Who in the hell?” He brought his hand up to his eyes, but it did nothing to lessen the halo of sunlight obscuring his view. It wasn’t until his probable assailant fell to her knees in laughter did he know who it was.

“Nila! What the hell are you doing?” He scrambled to his feet and brushed the dirt and sticks from his clothes. She responded with another fit of laughter and Lewis felt his face grow red.

She was almost completely wrapped in winter clothes, from head to toe. Her dress was made from nice, thick wool and so were her hood, coat, socks, and was she wearing mittens? He couldn’t quite tell because her hands were hidden behind her back. Still, he glanced down at his own clothes (his everyday trousers, shirt, and waistcoat) and felt the smallest bit embarrassed.

“Oh, Lewis!” she said between gasping breaths. “You should’ve seen the look on your face! It was priceless!”

“Oh, lock it up. It wasn’t that funny.” He leaned down and picked up the axe from where he dropped it. He was tempted to threaten Nila with it if she didn’t stop laughing but he decided against it. He propped it against the stump and took a seat, choosing to watch her lose her mind instead.

Her hair was braided into two plaits that hung past her shoulders and were tied with small, orange bows. The early morning sun rained down between the forest canopy above them and shone off her neatly brushed hair, making Lewis think of finely tempered chocolate. Her laugh bounced around the trees, perfectly harmonizing with the birds in their daily song. She was hypnotizing.

This was Lewis’s favorite part of working on the farm.

He watched as she slowly calmed down from what was apparently an incredibly hilarious prank. When she had finally caught her breath, she looked up at Lewis from the ground, the echo of a smile still fighting to stay on her lips. None of the smile had yet drained from her eyes. He didn’t dare speak.

“Lewis…” she said slowly. That hint of mischief never left her voice, did it? It was always in there somewhere, making everything she said sound like some kind of joke only the two of them shared.

“Yes, Nila?” She stood up from the ground, not caring about the leaves stuck to her dress, and leaned down to speak in Lewis’s ear. He found himself involuntarily rising to bring himself closer to her.

“Lewis,” she said, her voice was barely above a whisper. “You look like a complete idiot.”

“Huh?” His face grew red once again and he quickly leaned away from her. The sudden movement almost made him topple backwards off the stump, but he caught himself and jumped to his feet. This didn’t make Nila laugh for nearly as long as Lewis’s first incident did, but it did take her a moment to be able to speak again.

“Really, Lewis, I don’t even think you know how much you look like a helpless fawn. It’s quite entertaining, actually.”

“Well, that’s hardly fair!” he protested. But, per the usual, Nila ignored his words and strolled up to the edge of the trees.

“I have a gift for you, little fawn, and if you would like to see what it is, you’ll have to catch me first.”

Before Lewis could say anything or ask any questions, Nila picked up her skirt and ran off through the trees.

“Wait just a minute!” Leaving his chore ignored and abandoned, Lewis rushed after her and deeper into the woods.


	2. Chapter 2

The earthy tones of Nila’s winter garments blended almost perfectly into the backdrop of the forest, and soon, Lewis was left chasing her ghost through the trees. He never thought she was much faster than him but clearly he had misjudged that because it was only the faint sounds of twigs snapping and something moving through the branches that were guiding him through the woods.

“Nila!” he called out. He has since stopped running and was now moving along at a careful walk. He hoped she hadn’t completely left him behind, that she was watching him from somewhere behind the trees, but he wasn’t entirely sure. It wouldn’t have been unlike Nila to do something like that but it never failed in making Lewis nervous.

“Nila!” he called again. And again, no response.

“I swear, one of these days you’re going to need my help, but guess what? You won’t be getting it!” He was talking to the trees, hoping Nila was hiding somewhere between them. “Why? Because it will be payback! For all of this!” He waved his arms through the air, gesturing at the situation. How could one girl play with Lewis like this so much and how could he still be so enamored with her? Here he was, wandering through the forest like he was her lost dog, and he had no problem with it.

Nila was right, he was a complete idiot.

Then suddenly, he took a step and his foot came down on something that was distinctly not forest floor. He could feel the difference of material between the bottom of his shoe and the dirt that was supposed to be beneath it.

“What the…” his voice trailed off as he moved his boot and saw what he had crushed. It was a short section of orange ribbon, some parts of it were still bent and creased from being tied in a bow. Lewis picked it up and ran the material through his fingers. It couldn’t be…

“Nila!” He started running again, this time taking long strides and completely disregarding the branches that whipped at his face and clothes as he tore through the trees.

There was no other sign that the girl had come this way, but Lewis had to hope she would hear his cries and give some indication that she was near.

“Nila! Nila, where are you!” The farther he went with no other breadcrumbs, the more strained his voice got and the harder it was becoming to breath. He was overreacting, right? The bow could’ve just fallen out of her hair while she was running, it was just a piece of string after all. He tried to focus on this possibility, but Lewis couldn’t stop the other thoughts from entering his head.

What if something had actually happened to her? This was a dense forest and Mrs. Walsh had told him not to stray too far from the path or he might get lost. Is that what happened to Nila? Did Lewis just lose the one thing that didn’t make him feel like he was completely crazy?

No.

He had to stop.

This wasn’t helping anyone, least of all Nila. He dropped down to his knees, ignoring the rocks and sticks that dug into his pants. With his eyes shut tight, he tried to focus on his breathing. That easy in, out, in, out from that morning seemed nearly impossible to attain now and all he could manage was a series of quick gasps that only barely resembled a steady rhythm. His waistcoat was suddenly too tight, but he knew he shouldn’t remove it, so he bent over and pressed his forehead against the leaves covering the ground. He was once again losing control of his breath so he completely abandoned the fight and instead focused on his two points of contact with the earth.

The front of his legs were starting to feel sore from the peppering of woodland debris and his forehead was almost completely flat against the cool carpet of leaves. His arms were pulled close to his chest and in his hands, he held tight to the small ribbon that once hung in Nila’s hair.

The leaves, the ground, and the ribbon. Those were real; he could feel them. They were real and they were there. They weren’t going away.

Slowly, Lewis’s breath returned to him. It was ragged and confused, but it was there, slowly going in and then back out. He stayed like that, knees to his chin and forehead on the damp ground, trying to think of what to do next.

If Nila really was missing, then he needed to do something. Get someone who could help find her.

But what if she wasn’t missing?

What if she realized how pathetic Lewis was and decided to do the right thing and just leave? He wouldn’t blame her if she did. It was possible she finally had enough of him and left him in the forest as some sort of joke, using him as amusement one last time before leaving forever.

Lewis felt a new dampness on his face and, with a little surprise, realized he was crying. Had he been crying this whole time? He tried to remember but found that he genuinely couldn’t. All that came to him was that crushing pressure in his lungs that was slowly finding its way back around his chest.

“Lewis?” A sudden hand on his shoulder shocked him back to reality and he jumped up, falling backwards. He scrambled away until he felt a tree press against his back.

“Lewis, it’s alright.” He looked up through the hot tears and saw Nila herself, kneeling down next to where he had just been situated. He let out a gasping sigh that quickly turned into a sob. She rushed over to him and caught him as he slumped over, weak from the sudden wave of relief that washed over him.

She hadn’t left him after all.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Her voice was soft and even, the sort of calm one uses when trying to comfort a lost and scared animal.

“I...I thought you were gone,” he hiccuped. He unclenched his fist and showed her the now crumpled ribbon. She took it from him gently and sat back, retying it onto her braid.

“There, I’m not gone. See?” Nila reached out and grabbed Lewis’s hand. Guess she hadn’t been wearing mittens after all. Even so, her hands were incredibly warm. So were her eyes.

His breathing was finally back under control - hopefully for longer than last time - and it didn’t feel like any new tears were falling down his cheeks. He had been stupid to think Nila would’ve left him like that. Instead of actually following her through the forest, all Lewis had succeeded in doing was making Nila feel awkward by freaking out over nothing.

She didn’t talk like it was awkward, though. She didn’t talk down to him either. It seemed like she was curious and only because she wanted to try and help him. But, when she spoke, her eyes were still trained on their hands, resting on the ground between them.

“What happened?”

“I told you, I thought you were gone.”

“No,” she shook her head. “I mean before that.” He didn’t know what she meant. His silence displayed that easily and Nila continued. “What happened before and why did it make you think I left?”

“Oh, Nila. You haven’t done anything wrong,” he said. He sat forward and took both of her hands in his. “I don’t want you do leave -”

“That’s not what I meant,” she interrupted him. She still wouldn’t meet his eye. “I know something happened to you...before you came here.”

Lewis was speechless. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t have a response to that!

“It’s just,” Nila continued after Lewis didn’t answer her. “I don’t want you to feel like this anymore. So, please, tell me what happened so I can help you!” Her eyes were screwed shut and her grip was getting tighter on Lewis's hand.

“I…”

Was he really going to tell her the truth? What if that made her really leave? But looking at her like this, like how Lewis must’ve looked just moments before, he couldn’t do anything else, could he?

“I don’t know.” His voice was small, weak, barely above a whisper, but Nila still heard him. She lifted her head and the two met eyes. She was confused, Lewis could tell, and now he was the one who wanted to look away.

But he didn’t.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” she asked. Again, just pure curiosity. There was no hint of pity or mockery anywhere in her voice.

“I...have no memories from before three years ago. Everything else is just gone.”

“But you’ve told me about your childhood, about your family.”

Lewis took a deep breath and turned his head to the ground. He let his hand fall away from Nila’s. He was foolish to talk about such things with her. He had no right to. None of what he told her was real, he was just lying to himself. Hoping that what he was saying was at least close to the truth.

“I was lying.” His voice cracked on the word. “I don’t remember anything about my family.”

Lewis suddenly wished Nila had left. If she did, then she never would’ve seen him like this. Broken. Lost. Grasping at straws that he didn’t even if they were real. Wishing for a life that he thought should’ve been his.

But it wasn’t. No life was his.

All he had were pieces of a broken home that couldn’t even make a house. Not even a shadow of one.

But that wasn’t entirely true, was it? The pieces that he did have, while not forming the entire picture, did give him a frame didn’t it?

“Not everything I said was a lie,” he said. If he was lucky, then maybe he didn’t completely shatter his relationship with Nila by deceiving her.

“Like what?” she asked. She grabbed Lewis’s hand again and the warmth of her skin once more brought tears to his eyes. She sat patiently and after another deep breath, he was ready to answer.

“My brother. My mother and the book. Those are real...I think.”

I hope.

Nila was quiet for what felt like forever but Lewis didn’t dare break the silence. He’d caused enough harm by talking that he didn’t want to make it any worse. His heart was racing and he was afraid he wasn’t going to be able to breath, that the tension was going to choke him, but suddenly there was a change in the air.

Nila didn’t say anything in response, she just laughed.

Not a mocking laugh, mind you, a sweet one. One that made Lewis give a little smile of his own and helped him breath a little easier. It was a normal laugh and, in that moment, it was probably the one thing she could’ve said to make Lewis feel like everything was going to be okay.

“Well, that’s a relief,” she said. “I was afraid I had to return the gift I got for you.” 

Oh, right, the gift.

That was the whole reason they were in the forest, and Lewis had forgotten all about it.

“Why would you have to return it?” In lieu of an answer, Nila reached behind her and picked something off the ground that Lewis hadn’t even noticed before. She held it out to him and he gently took it from her. It was about the most expensive looking thing Lewis had ever seen.

It was a journal made from dark brown leather with pages that were almost stark white. It was soft in his hands and Lewis ran his fingers over two initials that were embossed on the cover, inlaid with gold leaf.

“L.D?”

Nila snorted. She jumped up off the ground and dropped into what could only be called a fencing position. Her knees were bent and her left arm was splayed out behind her while her right was out in front as if she was holding a sword.

“Lewis Despereaux!” She mimed a few strikes and parries. “Sounds quite dashing, doesn’t it?”

Once more, Lewis was absolutely speechless. He stared at Nila until she sat back down in front of him, apparently done with her little show.

“You’ve never told me your last name, though, now I know why,” she said. “But you have told me about that book your mother used to read to you, The Tale of Despereaux. I thought, if you were going to have any name, why not that one? I think it fits you quite well. It’s much better than Lewis Walsh, anyway.”

“Lewis Despereux.” He whispered the words, testing them out. The name didn’t feel weird when he said it. They didn’t have the same stale taste as “Walsh” did when he was laying in bed in the middle of the night, wondering if that was his future. Nila was right, it was much better.

“Thank you,” he said. He tore his eyes away from the journal and back at Nila. She was anxious, waiting to see if he’d accept her gift of this new name.

“Thank you.” He said it again and pulled her into a tight hug, burying his face into her shoulder. She didn’t respond - she didn’t need to - but just held him there, wrapped in her arms like she was the winter clothes he didn’t own.

They stayed like that for a long time.

Then, a thought suddenly occurred to Lewis.

“What am I going to write?” he muttered into Nila’s winter coat. Her shoulders shook as she laughed at Lewis for the millionth time that day.

“Write about whatever you want to.”

“But, I don’t know what I want to write about.” He sat up, pulling himself from Nila’s arms. Without her body heat, he was suddenly very cold. Much colder than he was when he started out into the woods earlier that day.

“Then write about us!” She stood, brushing the dirt from her skirt. She extended a hand to Lewis. He took it.

“Us?” he asked as she pulled him to his feet.

“Write about me!” Then, Nila actually did a twirl. She let her skirt fly out around her and stopped in what Lewis hoped wasn’t a bow, but what she clearly wanted to be a bow. Now he was the one to laugh and he pushed her shoulder, making her stand up straight. As the two laughed, Nila took Lewis by the arm like they were a couple walking into a fancy party. Slowly, the laughter faded. Nila was looking straight ahead into the trees.

Lewis was looking at Nila.

“Write about everything,” she said. “If you really don’t have any memories, then write about your new ones.”

Her smile beamed out into the world, while Lewis smiled at his.

“Come on!” she said, pulling Lewis off into the direction they came. “You have chores to finish!”


End file.
